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Below is a listing of stories focusing on the work and achievements of the Foley Center's participants. For more news about the School of Education and Social Policy, see the SESP News Center.

The seniors attending Regina Logan’s Adulthood and Aging class on November 12 were not fourth-year students but older people from diverse Chicago communities. They joined School of Education and Social Policy undergraduates for an “intergenerational exchange” to give the students insight into the transitions of late adulthood.

Twenty-seven older adults involved with Mather Lifeways attended the event. They included residents of independent living facilities in Evanston and adults who frequent the Mather cafes in various neighborhoods, from 83rd Street on the South Side of Chicago to Higgins Road on the Northwest Side.

Logan, a research assistant professor of human development and social policy, planned the event for her students “to make what they study come alive.” Her course starts with an exploration of adolescence and goes on to address the roles, tasks and events that occur at various stages of adult development. The students in the undergraduate class had recently studied the characteristics of late adulthood, including transitions such as retirement and grandparenthood. “We’ve been talking about looking back on life and integrating it all,” says Logan.

Talking to the older adults gave the students a personal glimpse into late adulthood. "In our debriefing after the visitors left, the students noted what a variety of stories they had heard — and how fascinating each person was! They talked about how vibrant most of the older adults were and that they were funny, sometimes painfully honest about difficult pasts and most of all full of life, even at age 65, 70 or 80," notes Logan.

Responses to questions about values, families, accomplishments and perspectives on life events enlightened the students about an older generation. The students commented on how much of what they had read in class regarding late adult transitions such as retirement and widowhood was borne out. In addition, they saw Erikson's psychosocial developmental stage theory in the lives of this generation. Students also learned about earlier historical eras from people who actually lived through them. For example, one man told how he hid from the Nazis during World War II.

Logan commented that the exchange was one of the most successful activities she has planned to give her students insight into stages of life. Earlier she held panels of young parents and had students interview or survey adults at various stages. ”The intent is to make the research literature come 'alive' by talking to real people," she says.

A sign of the success of the intergenerational exchange is that a number of students even exchanged contact information with the visitors at their tables so they could continue to keep in touch.

by Marilyn Sherman

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